(On my friends comp.) I reformatted the C: drive and then proceeded to reinstall windows. Everything went fine except now when it boots up it looks as though it is in "safe mode", it is not really but it looks like it. Pixelated graphics, large icons, looks like safe mode but it's not. I am thinking that i need to now install some drivers? I read somewhere that I need to use the Win 2000 "system restore" disk. He (my friend) says he doesn't and hasn't had one. And that once before a tech person from IBUYPOWER walked him through a reinstall just using the Win 2000 install disk. I'm lost. I'm sure to most this is a no-brainer but I am stuck and trying to learn. Thanks ahead for any info. I am grateful. Rockin out with our ..... out!

First you need to find out the exact model number of your graphics card, once you find this out you can download the drivers for your graphics card. A good free driver site is www.driverguide.com (just use the username "driver" and password "all")you can follow this procedure for your other devices in your computer to such as sound cards, nics, or modems.

Been there...Done that... and it sucks. Yea thats the main problem with reenstalling windows is getting all the drivers. And that is your problem - The Graphics Controller Driver. My Suggestion (I rebuild alot) 1. Start\ Settings\ Control Panel 2. Administartive Tools 3. Computer Management 4. Device Manager 5. Look for (?) 6. When you find an item 7. Right click properties to find out the name of the device. 8. Look it up on the internet. 9. DL drivers 10. See if you have a resource disc. 11. Once you find the drivers 12. Right Click on the device 13. Then Click Install Driver 14. Choose "Specific Location" That should work. Finding drivers can really suck. Try www.driverguide.com Register for free jOhn

I disagree LCpl Stillwell ISC U with this statement: "Been there...Done that... and it sucks. Yea thats the main problem with reenstalling windows is getting all the drivers." re-installing Windows is no pain and finding drivers is simple even if you don't have your original discs with the drivers for your components(which you should)all you have to do is check the device manager for the component then download it from the web simple, would you rather have universal drivers for say every video card? Because I've used "universal" video card drivers and guess what? THEY SUCK! With a universal driver especailly for a video card you don't get all the performance out of your components. I've tried for a test playing a fairly new 1 or 2 year PC game with a universal video card driver for my video card the game wouldn't run because of pixel shading. So I got rid of the useless universal driver and installed my driver for my exact card and it worked fine. Just an example of why universal video card drivers suck.

dxorcist is right..its simple..you can even do a windows update to locate the driver sometimes...it's simple, but if that doesn't work...take the video card out & check it out..READ PPL!

You can download Aida32 off the net. This will tell you exactly what cards etc you have on your machine. Then you can go to that site 'that sucks' and get everything you need free of charge. ChrisE

thx to all for the help,... i will try to finish up this weekend. the only thing i wonder is that (i am at a loss for details since it's not in front of me, sorry) i know he has an ati card and i had his ati disk, so i assumed, sure no problem the drivers should be on the disk. but when i tried to run the disk i would get an error. i know, i know it's gay that i don't remember the error msg b/c that would prob. help but i will try the steps suggested and hopefully get er taken care off. peace Rockin out with our ..... out!